


Dixon's Law

by SaraHudson112



Series: If the world was ending you'd come over right? [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: And by the way he is awkard, But he is genuinely worried, Daryl is trying to gain some points, F/M, Merle is there to save the day, Shane is an A+ asshole, That's why Merle is trying to help, mentions of domestic violence, mentions of physical abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27795112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraHudson112/pseuds/SaraHudson112
Summary: Merle and Daryl have a code, Rick learns about it, not in the way she would have wanted.
Relationships: Daryl Dixon/FemRick Grimes, Daryl Dixon/Rick Grimes
Series: If the world was ending you'd come over right? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027266
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Dixon's Law

**Author's Note:**

> Well, hello there. This time around I'll be adding Merle into the mix, don't worry he is still an asshole, and NO he is not interested on Rick, he is only playing nice because his baby brother needs good points with the woman. With that being said, they have been in the quarry almost about a week and a half, like I've said, I'm changing the time line here and there. Let me know if you liked this one shot! and what else do you want to see :)

Is not that Rick was trying to trigger Shane into his berserker mode, this ugly state of the man where he not only screamed at her. It wasn’t that. Maybe it was the way Daryl often looked at her and Rick looked back at the hunter, maybe it was the stranger camaraderie she and Merle found about taking care of the difficult decisions, Merle quite often siding with her on her decisions about moving (and, wasn’t that a strange thing?) but Merle only replied with a “you have balls for a woman your height” when she asked why he was playing “nice guy” with her (not like he was bringing her flowers and calling her darling, but still). Deep down she knew it was because of Daryl, they still hadn’t spoke about this unresolved sexual tension going on around them, specially not after they kissed in an abandoned house, when they were searching for supplies, she almost trips and Daryl’s grip ended up on her left breast and then they had some awkward moments and they kissed (more like Rick kissed Daryl on his cheek, but still), because Rick wasn’t really thinking and Daryl was too close and she said it was a thank you kiss. Weird.

They felt kind of awkward later and yes, Daryl was avoiding her by going hunting, he was trying to think too, because he was hella confused and aroused at the same time, but that was another problem.

They were deciding when they were going to leave the quarry, it was decided that it would be in a couple of days so they would be able to gather all of their stuff, water, fix the RV and have everyone known the plan about where they were heading.

After that Shane asked her if they could have a word, alone, Merle acted like he wasn’t interested in anything else and went off to his and Daryl’s tent and Rick walked with Shane to a more secluded section where they could talk freely, but the discussion escalated pretty quickly when Shane started questioning her decisions about going to the CDC, and she responding to him that they all decided it was their best option, not just her, no like she was trying to lead the group, she was asking everyone, giving them opportunity to talk and express their opinions about their options, but Shane didn’t take it too well, because the discussion went on and on until they were shouting at each other, Shane was mad and Rick was trying to calm him down, but the man was going nuts about this and then started shouting about how he knew there was something up between she and Merle and Rick didn’t want to say a lot more than she already knew but she only implied that Shane had has done the same. It wasn’t like she was admitting something, but then again Shane was out of his mind by that point and he hit her, fast and crude, the slap of his hand making a horrible sound when it landed on her face and she was taken aback, holding her cheek where it pulsed with pain, she was about to go nuts against Shane until Merle appeared out of the nothing.

“Hey there, officer friendly” Merle said and right when Shane turned to face him, Merle hit him with the end of the riffle he was holding with his two hands. “Didn’t ya know you ain’t supposed to hit a woman? Or ‘s it yar parents only taught ya how to be an asshole”

Dale was already there with Andrea and Glenn, they overheard their discussion and clearly heard when Shane started going crazy at her wife and the distinct sound of Shane slapping Rick, they knew they wouldn’t be able to stop Shane, but at least they would try to protect Rick whatever as they could, but to their own surprise, Merle was there, dealing with Shane and they were able to take Rick back with them. 

Shane calmed down, but only after Merle laid a few more punches to his face, telling him how he was a joke of a man, hitting a woman like that. Even if he himself, in his mind, admitted Rick was no damsel in distress and would have landed a punch to her husband’s face if Merle hasn’t appeared.

Rick was sure Merle threatened Shane with his gun, but she didn’t care at all to be honest.

It was just a couple hours after when Daryl made it to the camp. Next to the tent, Merle was sitting around a little fire, Rick was there too, with her son next to her. All his nervousness went away when he spotted the red and purple tones of Rick’s face.

“Who was it? Who did it? It was your asshole of a husband?” Daryl said, trying to keep his temper. Carl hunched onto Rick’s side, he wasn’t happy with what Shane did to his mom, but Shane was his stepfather, hell he was the only father he knew and he loved him, but the amount of times he saw hitting his mom, only made him mad at him. Their fights were bad, and he didn’t like it when someone screamed or punched things.

Daryl realized his voice was distressing the kid so he tried even harder to keep his temper. Carl was acting like he did back when he was a kid, and Merle noticed too, they knew exactly right there, that this thing had been happening for a while if the kid’s reaction was anything to go by.

“Daryl, I’m ok now, calm down.” Rick said, with that tone of her that indicated she wanted no more drama or fights. “Come sit? Please?” She asked now, but Daryl couldn’t sit, he was too riled up to let this go.

“Don’t ya worry, baby brother, I made sure myself mister officer got the Dixon’s law installed on his brain with a couple kind punches” Merle said, Daryl wasn’t so pleased to hear that even if he was grateful his brother was there when it happened.

Rick smiled, just a little, a hint of joy about Merle’s words. “It’s fine, Daryl. I’m fine, Merle helped me and things weren’t that bad”

“This time. What would happen if it gets worse?” He asked. Having enough of that, Daryl took his knife and headed to the main camp, most surely looking for Shane.

“Should I be worried?” Rick asked Merle, and the man only grunted, like thinking about the situation. “Merle?” Rick insisted and she was about to stand up and go after Daryl, but Merle laughed.

“I did my part, he’s gon’ do the same. His part, this is Dixon’s law”

Merle and Daryl lived half of their infant years watching his father hit their mother almost every day. The poor woman even tried to protect them from his husband’s punches and punishments, but that only meant she was the one getting punched. She died from cancer, when Daryl was ten and Merle seventeen, maybe it was aggravated because of the abuse, and even if Merle was kind of a misogynist in some ways and comments, he knew that hitting a woman was the lowest of the low and he never even once punched a woman and Daryl clearly had the same code as Merle. Hitting a woman was simply not acceptable, and then they called it “the Dixon’s law”, because one or two times they punched a guy for hitting a woman in a bar, not because they thought woman couldn’t protect themselves, it was because they needed help in that moment, just as their mother had needed help back when they were kids and weren’t able to protect her.

They clearly hadn't had a very nice life, Merle and Daryl were constantly abused by their father and when Merle left to join the army once he was old enough, Daryl only lasted a few more years and then he left too, wounded and scarred, but alive.

When Daryl came back a few minutes later, his right fist was bleeding and Rick stood up quickly, not worried about Shane as Daryl immediately thought, but worried about him.

“Oh, god. Look at your hand…” She took Daryl’s hand on hers. “Let me cure it, I’ll go for some things to clean this, you sit and eat, I’ll be back.” That was an order, not a question and Daryl huffed when he sat, right beside Merle. He just stared at the fire for a while until Carl spoke.

“Thank you…” He said, his voice little and soft, almost shy. “For protecting my mom”

Merle didn’t say anything and Daryl just nodded, neither one of them had anything good to say, because it was a difficult situation, but they saw the boy more relaxed, and that should count for something.

Rick came back, fixed Daryl’s hand and made him eat, chatting mostly with Merle who was telling some weird story about being drunk and naked in the street during 4th of July celebration. Carl was laughing and Rick laughed too, but she looked at Daryl, smiling fondly at him.

She would deal with the Shane situation later, now she needed this, and her boy was relaxed and calm, that was all that matter.


End file.
